


On the Edges In Between

by coreopsis



Category: Alkaline Trio (Band), Bandom
Genre: AU, M/M, RPS - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-06
Updated: 2010-08-06
Packaged: 2017-10-10 23:25:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coreopsis/pseuds/coreopsis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the same universe as <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/94976">And I'll Keep Singing This Lie</a>, but takes place before that.  Written for kink bingo "painplay (other)" but it's all talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Edges In Between

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Mahoni and Nemoinis for beta reading and for letting me talk until I got past the rough patches. :)

Bob is running late, which he hates because he's generally the one who is consistently on time for everything, unlike most of his friends who get there when they get there. So he's a little cranky when he gets to the restaurant, waves off the hostess, and heads straight for the table. He throws himself into the chair across from Brian and says, "Sorry, guys. Recording ran long. Patrick's going to try to make it over for dessert, but..."

"Yeah, let's not hold our breath for that. You'll be dragging him out of the studio at three in the morning when he's falling asleep over the board," Brian says, understanding all too well how Patrick actually works. He takes a sip of his water as the server comes over to give Bob a menu and take his drink order.

"What's a good local microbrew?" Bob asks her, and then looks at Brian. "You don't mind, do you?"

Brian rolls his eyes and says, "No, it's fine. You don't have to keep asking."

Bob can't help it, though, because he knows some days are harder than others for Brian--no matter how great he's doing over all. After an awkward pause, he tells the server to bring him whatever sounds good.

Ignoring the undercurrents going on at the table, Matt takes a bite of the pineapple adorning the glass of his violently blue drink and nods. "Hey, when you're in the writing groove, you don't want to stop and possibly lose it."

"Right. Patrick hates that." Bob shrugs as the server comes back with his beer and takes their orders.

 

Bob doesn't really know Matt all that well because he and Brian have only been together for a few months, and Bob's been too busy working on the record and falling into his own semi-secret quasi-relationship with Patrick to socialize much. Matt seems nice enough, if a little too flirty for Bob's taste, but the important thing is that Brian seems happier than he's been in a long time.

Bob drags his gaze away from the way Matt is sucking on the cherry from his drink and focuses on Brian, who is also watching Matt but with an entirely different kind of fascination. Bob clears his throat and says, "So how'd it go with that band you were looking at?"

"They're still thinking about it," Brian says with a shrug. "They'll come around. Which reminds me, you tell Patrick when he's ready to leave Crush..."

Bob laughs. "That doesn't seem likely, but I'll let him know you're interested."

"Brian's always interested," Matt says with the barest hint of a smirk that make the words sound dirtier than they should.

Brian chuckles and leans over to say something that Bob is glad he can't hear.

"Oh, yeah?" Matt says, low and husky, and gives Brian a bright-eyed look that almost makes Bob blush. It's not the kind of look Bob's used to seeing in public places, and he can't even imagine having it directed at him, not even from Patrick.

Matt and Brian stare at each other in the kind of silent communication that couples do where an entire conversation is happening with just the quirk of an eyebrow and a twitch of the lips. Bob is tempted to remind them that he's still there, but then Brian looks away and Matt goes back to sipping his drink and only being mildly suggestive with the straw.

"I ran into Branden the other day," Brian tells Bob, and slowly the conversation picks up again as they catch up on mutual friends and bands they all know.

 

Sometime in the middle of dinner when Bob has just finished telling them about the progress on Patrick's album, Matt looks up and says, apropos of nothing, "That reminds me. I got some nipple clamps over the weekend. We need to try those out soon, Brian."

"_What_ reminded you of that?" Bob asks, a little more incredulously than he'd like.

Matt swallows a bite of his pasta and nods. "You said Patrick's playing all his own instruments, and I've been doing that on some demos I've been working on."

Bob is still confused, but Brian doesn't look up from cutting his steak as he says, "Don't try to make sense of his thought process. His leaps of logic are positively athletic."

"Okay, sounds like a good plan." Bob finishes his beer and catches their server's eye as she finishes up at a nearby table. He's probably going to need another one to get through the rest of this meal.

Right as the server walks over, Brian jerks his head up as if he only just realized what Matt actually said and asks, "Wait, what? Did you say nipple clamps? Really?"

"Sorry," Bob tells her, but she just shakes her head.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I've heard just about everything. Do you need another beer?"

Bob hands her the empty glass and says, "Oh God, yes. Please."

As soon as she's gone again, Matt says, "Yeah, they're really cool. There's a cock ring attached to them with a chain--which is adjustable so it'll fit either one of us."

Bob almost laughs at that because now he's picturing tiny Brian and Matt who is over six feet tall together in bed (although still mostly clothed because Bob is not a perv). It reminds him of him and Patrick, although maybe not quite so extreme. Picturing Patrick's face if Bob suddenly whipped out some nipple clamps is also pretty amusing. He accepts his fresh beer with a smile of thanks for the server, and he suspects he's the only one at the table who even noticed her coming and going.

"I don't know..." Brian trails off with a skeptical tilt of his head. "That sounds painful."

"Yeah, it is. That's the point, and then there's this amazing rush of endorphins when you take the clamps off and finally, finally get to come." Matt is staring at Brian like he's forgotten Bob is there again, like he's forgotten about everything except Brian. It's intense and Bob can't help but feel envious because he almost never gets Patrick's full attention. There's always some little part of his brain that is working out a chord progression or trying to make a chorus flow easier or whatever his problem of the day seems to be.

"Pain can be..." Matt takes one last sip of his drink and pushes his plate away. "It's not really about the pain, right Bob?"

"Yeah," Bob says absently and then catches up. "I mean, no, I don't--"

Matt points at Bob and grins. "See, Bob knows. Being hurt doesn't exactly feel good in and of itself, but it can make you focus on your body, heighten every sensation, including the good ones. Knowing your partner has complete control over you and your experience, knowing he can cause you pain or give you unimaginable pleasure...that is such a fucking rush. It's like being high, but without the drugs. It's all your body's own natural chemistry at work."

"That is unreal," Brian says a little dreamily, his chin propped in his hand like he's completely caught up in Matt's vision.

Shifting in his chair as he gets a bit caught up in it too, Bob sips his beer and thinks about giving Patrick that kind of control over him or having that kind of control over Patrick. It's an uncomfortable thought because they don't have that kind of relationship. They don't actually have a relationship at all, really, just the occasional fuck on the studio couch to relieve tension or whatever. Bob doesn't even know what it is to Patrick because they don't talk about it. Patrick just gives him a look and says something like "so, do you wanna..." and the next thing Bob knows Patrick is kneeling between his legs. And seriously, if he keeps doing that Bob's going to start getting hard every time he sits down at the sound board. He's almost there already.

As Matt goes on to wax lyrical about the different effects pain can have on a sexual encounter, Bob considers Patrick and what they're doing, where it might be going. He's usually a go with the flow kind of guy, but he finds himself wanting something more. He wishes Patrick were here with him on a proper double date with Brian and Matt. Wishes he could tell Brian about his new boyfriend the way Brian called him up all cautious but excited when he realized that he and Matt were making a--what did he call it?--a 'deeper connection'. Bob might have teased him a little bit for sounding so unlike himself, but he'd been happy for Brian, too.

Brian's a good guy and deserves to be happy, and if being kinky with his boyfriend is what does it, then more power to him. Bob realizes that he deserves that too. Patrick deserves it, if that's what he wants, if Bob is the one who could give it to him.

"And if you're the one who's yanking the chain--" Matt makes a low sound in the back of his throat that makes Bob's face go warm. "Fuck, Brian, you're going to look hot as hell when I pull the chain tight around your--"

Bob tunes him out again, because there are some things he just doesn't need to know about his friends. He'd be offended that they seem to have completely forgotten he's even there and listening to their intimate stuff, but he suspects it's not intentional. They are completely gone on each other so it was bound to happen sooner or later, and this has all helped Bob clarify some things in his mind that he hasn't let himself think about too much.

Bob is thankful that there happens to be a lull in the Matt and Brian's Sexlife Show when the server comes back around and asks if they're ready for dessert. Brian gives Matt a look that nearly melts the silverware and Bob says quickly, "No, I don't think so. Just the checks, please. Thank you."

He turns to Brian and says, "You guys are such freaks. I can't take you anywhere."

Brian laughs and says, "And you haven't even seen the skirt he's got in the back of his closet. I'm trying to get him to wear that to a club for me."

Bob has a hard time picturing Matt in drag, for which he is profoundly grateful, but he nods and says, "Okay, let me know when he does because I want to be there."

"Really, Bob? I think you and I are going to be good friends after all," Matt says with a sly smile and a raised eyebrow. "How do you feel about threesomes?"

"He doesn't mean that," Brian says quickly, just as Bob shakes his head.

"I'm seeing someone." Brian looks surprised and Bob realizes that he really did hide it that well. He shrugs and adds apologetically, "It's...new. I didn't want to say anything before it--I don't exactly know..."

"No, it's okay, it's fine," Brian says, and Bob knows that it is, that Brian gets him and how cautious he is.

 

After he says goodnight to Brian and Matt and watches them get into a cab, he pulls out his phone and punches in Patrick's number--he's 4 on speed dial, which is more telling than Bob had even realized.

Patrick picks up with a distracted, "Yeah, Bob?"

"I think we need to talk," Bob says decisively, and he doesn't give Patrick a chance to question it, just continues, "You still at the studio? I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Yeah, I'm still here." Patrick sounds like he's paying attention now. "Uh, what's this about?"

"See you in ten minutes," Bob says again, and pushes the disconnect button. He starts walking, hoping that will be long enough to help him figure out what to say.

 

The end.


End file.
